Reflecting on ASA’s
Centennial Year, 2005

At this time 100 years ago . . . Americans worked an average of 57.7 hrs/week, earning $3.75/hr,* and life expectancy was 48.7 years. Meanwhile, the American Sociological Society was born, as C.W.A. Veditz, the first ASA secretary, gathered a group to determine “the desirability and feasibility of forming some sort of an organization of sociologists.” (1905)

75 years ago . . . the average work week was 43.9 hrs at $4.61/hr,* and life expectancy was 59.7. At the 1930 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Society, the number of sections had grown to nine (Rural Sociology, Social Statistics, Educational Sociology, Teaching of Sociology, Community, Sociology of Religion, Sociology of the Family, Sociology and Social Work, and Sociology and Psychiatry). (1930)

50 years ago . . .the average work week was 40.7 hrs at $9.08/hr,* and life expectancy was 69.6. Around that same time, 1949 to 1959, the Society was in its golden era, as membership expanded from 2,673 to 6,436; and Annual Meeting registrations increased from about 500 to more than 1,400.

25 years ago . . . the average work week was 39.7 hrs at $11.53/hr,* and life expectancy was 73.7. At the ASA, the membership was 12,868; revenue was almost $1.1 million; and the Minority Fellowship Program had supported 168 fellows and added 21 new PhDs to the profession. (1980)